If a typical user of a mobile device, such as a portable phone for example, wants to communicate with another party, the user first launches an application, then searches for an intended recipient, further determines if the intended recipient is available/capable of receiving a message, and finally sends the message, or decides not to send the message. For example, if the user wants to send an instant message, the user first launches instant messaging. Then the user searches through a contact list to find the intended recipient of the instant message. Once the intended recipient is found, the user can determine if the intended recipient can receive the instant message. For example, the intended recipient may subscribe to instant messaging, but be configured not to receive messages (e.g., listed as offline). Finally, the user sends the instant message (if the intended recipient is accepting messages).
If the intended recipient was not found by searching the contact list, of was listed of offline, the user can decide to communicate with the intended recipient via another communication mode, such as email for example. However, at this point, the user has no idea whether the intended recipient participates in email or is accepting email messages. Thus, the user must first launch email and again search through a list of contacts for the intended recipient. If the intended recipient is found and is available to receive email, the user can send an email message to the intended recipient. As the above examples illustrate, communicating with various parties via various communication modes can be time consuming, cumbersome, and tedious.